Crystal Stairs
by SunShineJ
Summary: Uzumaki Naruto becomes Namikaze Minato. In the middle of the fight with Mizuki, Naruto somehow become his father, the Yondaime. Getting all his memories, quirks and looks. How will this change his way of life? Konoha 9 has bcome suspicious, they will find out what happened to the blonde knucklehead. One way or another. Might be Pairings.
1. Yondaime?

Hi guys, so here is a new story! I have lots of ideas for some stories, so here is another one! Enjoy the first chapter!

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**Chapter One - Yondaime?**

"Die, Kyuubi!"

_K-Kyuubi? Seals? What? I-Im the Kyuubi? B-But, I don't remember destroying the village?_

"Naruto! Run!"

_I-Iruka-sensei? _

"Don't get in my way Iruka!"

Naruto opened his eyes, he held the Scroll of Seals tightly in his arms as he watched Mizuki come close to killing Iruka. Mizuki threw his enlarged shuriken towards the vulnerable chunin. Something in Naruto snapped. Seeing his precious one about to die at the hands of an ex-comrade.

Chakra exploded from Naruto and surrounded him, "If you touch my sensei, Ill kill you!" He snarled as he held the scroll to the ground. Mizuki glanced at him, as if he was uninterested.

"Oh really? You, the dead last, kill me? A chunin?" Mizuki laughed at him, Iruka glared and winced. He glanced down and saw blood seeping through his flak jacket, a wound caused by a kunai from Mizuki. Iruka looked at Naruto, and what he saw shocked him. Naruto was, growing? He was changing?

"Yes, I will. You attempted to kill my precious person." His voice seemed deeper, and more smooth. He couldn't see Naruto, his chakra was going wild and was covering him from head to toe.

"You can try!" Mizuki challenged, he got into a defensive stance with a kunai in hand. Mizuki didn't even think about all the chakra pouring out of Naruto.

"I will succeed, Mizuki-teme." Naruto growled, his chakra dimming down. Mizuki laughed with amusement shown in his eyes.

"Is that an empty threat I hear?" Naruto's chakra went away and Iruka gasped.

Naruto glared at him, expelling KI with his icy blue eyes, "Its not a threat, its a promise."

* * *

"Hokage-sama, is that who I think it is?"

"Hmm, it seems so."

"B-But, I thought he died 13 years ago!"

"I know, Kakashi. Go, go to him. Bring him and Iruka so they can get treated for their upcoming wounds."

Kakashi nodded, "Hai." Sarutobi lifted his pipe to his lips.

"Dismissed." A poof of smoke and Kakashi was gone.

* * *

Naruto glared hatefully at Mizuki, who cowered under Naruto's new appearance.

"Y-Yondaime?" Iruka winced slightly at his wound, but stared at Naruto with an open mouth. Naruto looked down at himself before gasping with wide eyes.

"What? W-What is this?" He looked over himself, he had everything that was the Yondaime's. The haori, his arm bands, his _tri-pronged kunai_!

He now stood at a whopping 5'10", a major growth from his original 4'10" height. His hair was a dark golden colour with 2 jaw-length spiky bangs framing both sides of his face, his skin was a bit lighter than before and his whiskers were gone. Icy blue eyes were narrower than his original full eyes, he had on a very worn hitai-ate that sat on his forehead, his bangs hanging over the leaf-like symbol. Standard Jounin attire adorned his form, 2 white bands on both his arms, located on his wrist and near his elbow, a hip pouch on his left hip with his shuriken and kunai holster**(A|N: Uhm going to say this now, when I write kunai and shuriken holster I am going to shorten it to S|KH. okay? Because I don't really feel like writing it out every. single. time.) **on his right thigh. Naruto turned himself around, he heard the haori he was wearing swish when he turned. He gaped, he was actually the Yondaime! He looks exactly like him! His short-sleeved long white haori was worn over his clothing, decorated by red, almost orange, flame-like motifs on the edges with the kanji for 'Fourth Hokage' written vertically down the back, and closed on the front by a thin, red rope.

Iruka staggered up, using a hand to balance him on the tree while the other was putting pressure on his wound, "N-Naruto? Is that you?" Naruto, or the Yondaime, looked over at him with a fearful expression. He was afraid of the whole situation.

"D-Demon! Impersonating the Yondaime that killed you!" Mizuki shouted and threw one of his enlarged shuriken at Naruto. Iruka, not wanting to watch his student turned Yondaime to get killed, used the **Shunshin no Jutsu **and appeared in front of the taller boy-gone-man. He appeared about a minute before the shuriken could hit them since Mizuki was on the other side of the clearing, Iruka looked up into Naruto's eyes.

"Im proud of you, Naruto." Naruto stared down at his father figure, who had his eyes closed, as he heard the sound of metal slicing through the air. The shuriken was close to them now and Iruka was fully prepared for the pain, except he didn't feel it. He heard someone grunt as the metal hit skin and tore into flesh, sounds of liquid hitting the ground made Iruka open his eyes.

Naruto chuckled, blood seeping through his lips, "Ne, Iruka-sensei," He coughed, blood splattering the shorter man's face, "I cant let you getting hurt even more, eh?" Naruto had taken the blow to the back instead of Iruka, the shuriken was imbedded quite deep in his back, blood seeped through his white haori and dripped down onto the dry ground below. Iruka, as gently as he could, ripped the shuriken from his back. Naruto gave a pained groan and stumbled a bit, Iruka threw the shuriken to the side and caught him quickly.

"Naruto, Im supposed to protect you. Not the other way around, baka." Iruka chided him softly, he gently put one of Naruto's arm around his shoulder. They both looked at Mizuki, who was laughing like a madman.

"You! You are going to help the very demon that killed your parents, Iruka? As well as impersonate the Yondaime?!" Mizuki grabbed his other large shuriken from his back, he pulled his arm back to throw it, "I cant believe you would side with the Kyuubi. I should have sto-" Mizuki was cut off, however, by an uninvited guest.

Iruka cocked an eyebrow, "Kakashi?" The masked Jounin, Kakashi, eye-smiled at him as he proceeded to knock out the traitor and heft him over his shoulder.

"Why hello Iruka-kun," Iruka blushed at the honorific, "nice seeing you here." Kakashi averted his gaze to Naruto, who looked exactly like his dead sensei, "And I am assuming you are Naruto? Uzumaki Naruto?" Naruto nodded and winced, the wound in his back hurting him. He was, surprisingly, really calm about what just happened. I mean, its not an everyday thing to just turn into your idol or something just for the fun of it.

Iruka seemed to notice that he wasn't freaking out, "Naruto, you okay?" Naruto nodded, not talking. Iruka sighed and shook his head, knowing how Naruto can get a bit shy in front of strangers, no matter what the situation was.

Kakashi put his free hand on Iruka's shoulder, "We have to go to the council, they summoned us to go to the council chambers for a meeting." Iruka rolled his eyes.

"Now? Cant they tell that we have 2 injured people and a traitor?" Kakashi chuckled and shunshinned them all to the chambers. Naruto stumbled and immediately leaned against a wall, he wasn't used to the Shunshin at all. Iruka also stumbled from the lack of weight, but he got his balance eventually. Kakashi just stood there and dumped Mizuki unceremoniously on the floor in front of the council. The Hokage was also there with a small smile on his face as he smoked on his pipe.

"Well, now that we are all here. We can start the meeting. First off, Kakashi, help Iruka and Naruto with their wounds, please?" Kakashi nodded and headed over to the 2 hanging by the door.

Haruno Mebuki stood up, "Isnt that the Yondaime?" Sarutobi shook his head, "But he is right there!" She pointed an accusing finger at Naruto, who had his shirt, flak jacket and haori off to the side while he was getting bandages wrapped around his mid-section by Kakashi. He was basically half-naked, showing the whole council his lean, and toned body.

Hyuga Hiashi cleared his throat, "That is not the Yondaime. It cant be him, he has been dead for 13 years." Sarutobi nodded.

"That is true, that is true. But, why does Naruto-kun now look like him?" Sarutobi looked at Naruto, who had stayed quiet the whole time, "Naruto-kun," Sarutobi called, Naruto stood up, with some help from Kakashi, and looked at his grandfather figure. "Is the seal okay?" Naruto shrugged.

Kakashi smacked him on the back of his head, "Show him your seal, baka." Naruto 'oh'ed and channeled his chakra, his seal showed up but it looked a bit different. It was still the same, in general, except it had a line of symbols going up his chest and it ended right there.

"Well, I do not know what this means. We need to get Jiraiya here," Sarutobi sighed, "Kakashi, go send a messenger bird for Jiraiya to come home immediately."

"Hai." Kakashi left the room in a swirl of leaves. Sarutobi rubbed his face and looked at the council, they were beginning to gossip and argue while occasionally glancing at Naruto-turned-Yondaime. He noticed that Naruto seemed pretty shy and quiet, it was pretty strange. Naruto was always shy when in the presence of a stranger, but he knew these people. Was his personality changing? Just because he seemed to look like Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime?

"Naruto-kun?" Naruto shot his head up and looked at Sarutobi curiously, "C'mere boy." Naruto slipped on his shirt, flak jacket and haori quickly and hurried to Sarutobi's seat and stood next to him, "Whats up with you, Naruto-kun?"

"U-Uhm, I honestly don't know." His voice, it was just as he remembered. Deep, smooth and charming.

"Hmm, do you know how this happened?" Naruto shrugged and watched the council bicker, well the civilian side. The shinobi council were quietly talking to each other.

"I just saw Iruka-sensei almost get killed by Mizuki-teme and I got angry," Naruto watched Iruka converse with the other shinobi, "I mean, he's like my father and I don't want to see him get hurt." Sarutobi hummed as he overlooked the room.

"Hmm, okay. Your father mentioned this in one of his notes on the seal, I think he sealed part of his soul into you, or at least his chakra. When you got angry, you unconsciously grabbed onto your father's chakra and it overwhelmed yours, giving you his characteristics and whatnot." Naruto nodded, "But I am not completely sure since I am not a Seal Master." Naruto nodded again and put a hand to his chin, Sarutobi lips quirked up into a smile. Minato used to do that when he would think up a solution, much like Nara Shikaku. _It seems like he is getting his father's characteristics_, Sarutobi thought.

"It is possible, wait... My dad?" Naruto looked up at Sarutobi with shock, Sarutobi cursed his slip of tongue.

Sarutobi nodded, "Just don't freak out, you can do that right?" Naruto hesitated before nodding.

"B-But, whats going to happen now? I can already feel myself changing into someone Im not." Sarutobi nodded slowly and stood up.

"Ah-hem," Everyone stopped talking and looked at Sarutobi, "since we cant find a solution to this matter, I have decided to make Naruto-kun as my personal Anbu guard for the time being. He will be known as Kitsune because of the Kyuubi sealed within him. When he is not on duty, he will be known as Namikaze Minato and he will stay with one of the new genin teams at all times. Understood?"

"But why? Cant he just use a **Henge **and become his annoying little self again?" Cried one of the civilian council members.

Sarutobi shook his head, "No, since we do not know what will happen if he uses his chakra since he has completely changed into Minato. His personality is merging with Minato's as we speak. Soon, he will be Naruto and Minato, mixed together."

"That's strange, wont he become Minato-sama all the way though?" Inuzuka Tsume asked, her eyes narrowed.

"It depends." Naruto, well now Minato, spoke surprising some people.

Shikaku hummed, "What do you mean by, 'It depends'?"

"It depends on my willpower to not become exactly like my father. I could have some of my quirks but I could also be more like my father. Im not sure if I could be exactly like my father. I have a thought, and its a bit saddening when I think about it." Minato closed his eyes briefly before opening them and leaning against a wall near Sarutobi.

"What thought, Nar-Minato?" Yamanaka Inoichi asked, leaning forward in his chair.

"What would happen if Jiji dies? Who would take over as Hokage?"

Sarutobi looked at him with sad eyes, "Why do you think I would die soon, Minato?" Minato shook his head.

"I have a feeling that something bad is going to happen soon, like really bad."

"Well, if I were to die, then you would become Hokage." Minato's eyes opened up wide.

"What?!" He shouted, along with some others.

Sarutobi chuckled, "I mean, you were Hokage once before, Minato."

"B-But that wasn't _me_. That was my dad."

Sarutobi looked at him, "I still believe that you can become Hokage, _again_, Minato."

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What do you guys think? It might've been a little fast but, eh. Follow, Favourite and Review everybody!


	2. Teams and Memories

**Chapter Two - Teams & Last Memories.**

Uzumaki Naruto was now officially Namikaze Minato. When he got to go back to his apartment, he got to freak out about his father being the Yondaime. Iruka and Kakashi were mildly uneasy about the whole situation, but they don't treat him any different. Iruka was still his sensei and Kakashi was still a perv. Sarutobi would also act a bit strange around him for a while until he stopped. But, he was still his grandfather.

Anyways, it has been a couple months since the incident and Sarutobi had Minato work in the office with him so he could get used to doing paperwork. Minato remembered some of his memeories, they came in little snipits and they would usually make him collapse for a few minutes because of the backlash. He would also remember some of his jutsu and moves, and how he would usually act. Most of the time he was Kitsune, for Anbu, and he was stationed right next to Sarutobi's desk. He would usually be quiet, but not all the time. When he would talk, it reflected Naruto's personality.

He has been improving rapidly in his training. He would usually train with Kakashi, or with some new training parnters like Jiraiya, who came about a month ago and who he calls Ero-Sennin, Genma, Hayate and Asuma. Asuma helps him out a lot with elemental chakra manipulation since they are both Wind natured. They had all agreed to keep his training as an S-Ranked secret.

"Minato!"

"GAhh!" Minato spun around, his heart beating quickly to look at the instigator of the scare. It was Kakashi, he hasn't seen him for a while since he got a team of genin.

"Do you remember what to say when people ask how you are alive?" Minato rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. I was put in a coma for a long time because my chakra was stunted, meaning that it wouldn't let me out of the coma until I found a resolve." Kakashi nodded happily with an eye-smile.

"Good. Now, lets get going." Kakashi began to walk away, Minato quickly caught up to him and walked in step with him.

"Where are we going?"

"On a C-Rank because you will whine about going on a D-Rank." Minato crossed his arms as they walked out of the training grounds where Minato once was.

"But, why do I have to go~?" He groaned out, Kakashi chuckled.

"Because Hokage-sama said so."

Minato humphed, "That old guy just wants to see me suffer," He sniffled, "Just because I used to be his sweet little _Naru-chan~_! Now, Im my father." Kakashi looked down briefly and looked back up.

"Don't get your panties in a twist, Minato-sensei." Minato grew a tick on his right temple and angrily pointed at him as they jumped to the rooftops so no one would see Minato.

"Who said you could call me _Minato-sensei? _Hmm?" Minato narrowed his eyes as Kakashi chuckled.

"Well, you are still my sensei. Even if you were a knucklehead before, you are becoming more like him. More like Minato-sensei." Minato raised an eyebrow as they both landed in front of the Main Gate. Minato looked to see a figure already there as they walked closer. His eyes lit up in recognition as he saw the little genin. It was Shikamaru. He cocked an eyebrow, where were Sakura and Sasuke?

Minato nudged Kakashi, "Hey, I thought Sasuke-teme and Sakura were your genin." Kakashi smiled, though you couldn't see it under his mask.

"I didn't know you still called Sasuke, _Sasuke-teme_."

Minato smacked him in the back of the head, "Baka, you are an-" Minato stopped suddenly and gripped his head, his eyes going wide with pain. Kakashi gave him a concerned look and shunshinned them to a considerate distance away from civilization. Minato dropped to his knees and cradled his head, he screamed in agonizing pain as images flashed through his mind. Memories.

_"The most important thing for a shinobi is teamwork!" Minato exclaimed as he looked at his genin._

Rin, Obito, Kakashi.

_He held a red-headed girl in his arms, Kushina, as he saved her he said, "I noticed your beautiful hair right away."_

Kushina.

_He couldn't contain his excitement as he talked to his sensei, Jiraiya, "You're a man with true skill... an example we should all follow. I cant think of a finer shinobi than you!" He smiled happily as Jiraiya patted his head, also smiling._

Jiraiya-sensei.

_He coughed, looking at Kushina's bloodied face as Kyuubi growled behind them. The Kyuubi's claw lodged through both their backs and out their stomachs, almost touching the little baby on the alter, Naruto. Minato smiled as he heard Kushina talk to their son, he smiled gently and began his turn to talk, "Naruto... This is your dad. Listen... To your motor-mouth Mother." He smiled once again as Kushina winked at him. _Even on deaths door she is still attractive_, he thought._

Death.

Kakashi looked at his sensei worriedly, he stopped screaming and was just sitting there. He put his hand on the blonde's back, he opened his mouth to say something when he got cut-off by Minato.

"K-Kakashi, I remember everything. Till my death." Minato sniffed, "Lets go, we are already late." He chuckled, trying to get rid of the tense atmostphere. It worked and they both shunshinned in front of the surprised genin.

Shikamaru's slouched position suddenly straightened up when he saw the supposedly dead Yondaime show up in front of them, "I-Arent you supposed to be dead?" Minato grinned, showing his sharper than normal canines.

"Yup, apparently I am, I guess. But no. I was actually in a coma that messed with my chakra. Is that a good enough answer for you, Shikamaru?" Shikamaru shook his head quickly and slouched back down, once again becoming a lazy pineapple. Minato then turned to Kakashi, "Arent you supposed to have 2 more cuties?"

Shikamaru answered him, "Hokage-sama said that this will be a team since I am 'more advanced' than the other genin." Minato nodded and grinned.

"Well, then lets get going!"

* * *

Shikamaru, Kakashi and Minato all sighed in relief as they sat down in the grass. They had tree-hopped all the way from Konoha to Nami no Kuni where they will receive a scroll from a man named Tazuna, they will also have to escort him back to Konoha so he could talk to the Hokage. Shikamaru was still confused and shocked. I mean, its not everyday that you see a supposedly dead Hokage come and greet you like he has known you for years. He glanced at Minato before closing his eyes to think. _First of all, how is he alive? I know he said that he was in a coma that messed with his chakra. But to be in a coma for 13 years? And there is that problem with Naruto's disappearance, where did he go? This is strange. __He also appeared around the time Naruto disappeared. Hmm, _he looked at Minato again and caught his gaze. His eyes were strong with determination and held the will to protect his loved ones, he blinked before widening his eyes.

Minato stared at him and noticed his expression, he smirked, "Eh, so you've found out. Ne, Shikamaru." Shikamaru shook his head, as if he couldn't believe it.

"Is it really you, Naruto?" Minato nodded and cocked his head.

"How'd you know its me?"

Shikamaru answered without hesitation, "Your eyes. They held the Will of Fire to protect your loved ones, and your stubborn way of never backing down. Unbreakable determination."

Minato nodded, satisfied with the answer and stood up stretching his arms behind his head. Kakashi did the same, as did Shikamaru, "We should get going, since we are close. We could just water-walk across the water and make it to Nami no Kuni's little village in about an hour." Kakashi eye-smiled and pointed to Shikamaru, said genin sweatdropped.

"Well, we wont be able to do that if little Shika-kun doesn't know how to water-walk~." Minato rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Well look at that, there is a little bit of Naruto still left in you, Minato-sensei." Kakashi chuckled.

Shikamaru grunted, "My tou-san was explaining the concept of water-walking to me about a week ago during my clan training. You basically have to channel chakra to the bottom of your feet and monitor it to follow the waves of the water, am I right?"

Minato grinned, "In a nutshell!" Shikamaru sighed and rolled his eyes. This 'new' Naruto, as he calls him, is kinda strange.

Anyways, Shikamaru gather chakra to his feet and took a step on the calme water, then he took another. He had good chakra control since he had to work with his shadows and stuff, so its understandable when he gets at least 30 steps away from the shore.

Kakashi noticed this and grinned, "Good job, Shikamaru. Now, instead of calm water, how about choppy and ferocious waters?" Shikamaru groaned and tried to regain his balance when Minato sent a couple shadows clones to do cannonballs in the water near Shikamaru. Since Naruto had monstorous chakra reserves, they only grew when he became Minato.

Shikamaru glared at Minato when he got soaked to the bone, "I am going to kill you, Naruto." He practically growled as he started running towards Minato, who was on land, instinctively using his chakra to keep him on top of the water.

"Its not Naruto, Shikamaru." Minato tutted and waggled his finger in the air with a shit-eating grin on his face, "Its Minato-san, Minato-sama, Minato-taichou, Minato-senpai or Minato-sensei. Or," His grin grew as his eyes lit up with childishness, trickery and immaturity, "Minato-kun~." He watched as Shikamaru faltered in his steps as a blush grew on his cheeks. Its not that he didn't like Nar-Minato, its the way he was saying it.

"Whatever, you troublesome blonde." Shikamaru grumbled as he walked away from the 2 Jounin and towards Nami no Kuni.

Kakashi snorted and laughed loudly, losing all his composure that he tried, and failed, to keep.

* * *

"This is boring~." Minato whined as they ran across the water.

"Its only been half an hour, Minato-sensei. It would obviously be boring since we are running across water." Shikamaru was inbetween the 2 men, he grumbled about troublesome things.

Minato's eyebrow twitched, "I know that, Shikamaru. But, its just boring if you know what I mean." Kakashi stayed silent throughout the whole ordeal, he was probably sleeping as he was running. And channeling chakra to his feet to stay on top of the water, "It sucks. I have all my tou-san's memories but I cant really use the jutsu he learned because of my chakra control," He sighed, "I thought that my chakra control would go up because tou-san had great control, but my control only got a bit better since the change." He rubbed the back of his head. He'd have to think this over once he got back to Jiji's office, or Kakashi's apartment, or his own if it was clean enough. He had taken all of his dad's belongings and put it in his apartment. There were a whole bunch of boxes everywhere full of clothing, Fuinjutsu ink, paper, brushes, scrolls of information on his Fuinjutsu, scrolls with his tri-pronged kunai, scrolls on everything basically. It was a pain in the ass to drag it from the Hokage's office secret vault.

"There is land up ahead, we should keep running to meet Tazuna-san at his house." Kakashi sped up in his running, Shikamaru and Minato were following close behind.

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So, there is chapter 2! Hope you guys like it! Follow, Favourite and Review please!


	3. Uh, No Comment on This Chapter

**Chapter Three - Uh, No Comment on This Chapter.**

Minato's eyebrow twitched, this little runt just wont get it! He glanced at Shikamaru and Kakashi, they both looked annoyed at the little boy, Inari was his name. Inari was just so depressed bcause his father figure, Kaiza, was taken down in front of the whole village by a greedy man named Gatou. Right now, they were about to leave when the little brat decided to shout stuff about not knowing how hard life can actually be.

Minato growled, "You dont know how hard life can be? Let me tell you, I know how hard it can be. I was an orphan since I was a baby. Everyone glared at me, spat at me, beat me in alleyways, they've always hated me for something I didn't do," Inari's eyes grew fearful, "Have you even been in the market area? I have, and it aint damn pretty. There is barely any food and children were running around in nothing but rags and they were begging for food and money. Most of them don't even have parents because of how poor the village is to even afford proper doctors!" Minato calmed himself down, "Just, get stronger, yeah? If you get stronger and protector your precious people, you will be truly strong." He gave the littlun a soft smile and rubbed his head, the boy blinked at him before smiling as well.

"Okay, Mister! I will try!" He gave him a smile, "Whats your name anyways, Mister?"

Minato glanced at Kakashi, who nodded with a smile. He kneeled down to the Inari's height and laid a hand on his shoulder, "Well, littlun, my name is Namikaze Minato. But you can call me Mina-Niisan if you want too." Inari nodded happily.

"Make sure you take care of my grampa, Mina-Niisan." Inari turned to Shikamaru and Kakashi, "You too, you lazy boogers."

Shikamaru groaned and gave Minato a glare, "Did he just call me a booger?" Minato laughed and stood up.

"I guess he did." Kakashi eye-smiled and walked ahead of the others on the dirt trail. The others followed after him as they waved back at Inari and his mom, Tsunami. They all continued to walk at a civilian pace, which was perfect for Shikamaru, and talked the whole time.

* * *

_Thunk._

_Thunk._

_Thunk._

_Thunk._

_Thu-_

"Can you stop wasting your kunai?"

"I can get them back, geeze. Im not stupid."

"Are you sure?"

"Hmph."

Minato was throwing his tri-pronged kunai to random trees so he could try to use the **Hiraishin no Jutsu** that he saw in one of his memories. He can do it, but he always ends up messing it up at the end.

"Geeze, why cant I get this?" Minato questioned as he tried, and failed, to flash to the correct kunai.

"Its a good thing that you remember all of the jutsu you made and learned." Kakashi said, Minato nodded in agreement and tried, once again, to flash to a nearby kunai. _Okay, channel my chakra, pinpoint the kunai's seal and... Flash! _He flashed to a kunai in front of him and cheered in triumph when he found that he was successful.

"Yeah! I got it! Wooh!" He wooped with a smile on his face. _Finally! I thought it was going to take forever. Now, I need to work on chakra control to attempt the Rasengan. _He grabbed his kunai that were embedded in the surrounding trunks of trees. _I guess I should do the Leaf Concentration exercise, I could probably do it while walking. _He walked to a tree, ignoring the others who were still walking, and gathered chakra to the soles of his feet. _I should be able to do the tree climbing exercise since doing the Rasengan needs precise chakra control. The Leaf Concentration exercise is exactly that, precise chakra control on a single area on a person's body. _As he was thinking, he walked up the tree and grabbed a leaf from a low hanging branch. He jumped off the tree and landed with his knees bent. He straightened up and ran to his little group. He glanced at the others and put the leaf on his cheek, concentrating on keeping it there until they get back to Konoha.

* * *

"Danzo, why did you call a meeting?"

"I called a meeting because I want to know what happened to the Kyuubi. Where is it?" A growl of anger was heard, KI filled the air.

"Naruto is not the Kyuubi, Danzo. How many times do I have to clarify it for you?" Sarutobi growled, _He wasn't at the meeting when Naruto merged with Minato, so he doesn't know what happened, _Sarutobi thought with realization.

"Where is it?" Sarutobi glared at him with tight lips.

"Danzo, who do you represent on the council?"

Danzo cocked an eyebrow at the sudden change of subject, the council watched with confused eyes, "I am an Advisor along with Koharu and Homaru." Sarutobi nodded.

"That's right, Danzo. Now, who am I?"

"You are Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Sandaime Hokage." He said slowly, as if he was forgetting something.

Sarutobi nodded and put his pipe to his lips, "Ah, yes. Yes, I am the Hokage of the village. Not you. I can call meetings, not you. Why? Because I have more authority. I am the leader of this village. I am the Hokage." He glanced around, he had everyones eyes on him. He smirked, _Ah, the attention is finally on the one in charge, _"Now, how do you, an Advisor, have more authority over me, the Hokage, to call a meeting?"

Danzo's eye widened a bit, _When has Sarutobi grown a backbone? _"Gomen, Saruto-"

"Its Hokage-sama, Danzo." Sarutobi interrupted him with a glare.

Danzo gulped, "Gomen, Hokage-sama." Sarutobi nodded with a smile on his face before turning his head to the civilian council.

"Ahem, Izumo, Kotetsu." Two shinobi appeared, Chunin ranked, at his side on one knee with bowed heads, a sign of respect, "Send a messenger bird for Hatake Kakashi and his team."

"Hai." They both chorused and left in a poof of smoke, signaling a Shunshin was used.

"Now, I have one thing to say," The whole council stayed silent, but they were a bit uncomfortable as Sarutobi hasn't left his gaze on the civilian side, "The civilian council will be disbanded." He sighed, _Now that I had a confidence boost, I can finally not regret doing that._

The civilian council were in an uproar, the shinobi side stayed silent, wanting to watch how this plays out.

A councilman shouted out among the chaos, "Why are disbanding us? We are needed!"

"How are you needed in a _shinobi _village?" Sarutobi asked calmly with a raised eyebrow. The councilman stuttered before slumping down in defeat. Sarutobi smirked in victory and signaled for two Anbu to take the civilian council away. The shinobi council watched in silence, Danzo gawked at Sarutobi's newfound demeanor, "Now that, that is over. How about we get down to some real business, other than Uzumaki Naruto and the Kyuubi no Kitsune." The shinobi council nodded, along with the three advisors.

"Well, the chunin exams are coming up. Sarutobi Asuma, Yuhi Kurenai, and Maito Gai elected their teams to participate, but Hatake Kakashi hasn't." Koharu looked at Sarutobi with a questionable look on her face, "Who is on his team anyway? It was supposed to be Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto. But now, the Uchiha and Haruno are on team 8 with Inuzuka Kiba and his partner Akamaru. Team 10, led by Sarutobi Asuma, has Akimichi Choji, Yamanaka Ino and Hyuga Hinata. Aburame Shino is currently in Team 9 with Maito Gai as his sensei and Hyuga Neji, Tenten and Rock Lee. Aburame Shino is likely to be apprenticed by someone in his clan." She said, Sarutobi nodded.

"And what about team 7, led by Hatake Kakashi?" Hiashi asked from his seat next to Inoichi.

Sarutobi sighed, "Team 7? Well, team 7 is a very strange team. With only 2 Jounin and one genin, who should be a chunin by his intelligence and his tactics." He said, "Team 7, let me tell you about them." The shinobi side got comfortable in their chairs as they knew that a little story was coming, "Team 7, that team brings memories. Am I right?" They all nodded, Sarutobi leaned back in his chair with a small smile, "Team 7, that team was an experience to everyone around them. Minato's team," He chuckled, "his team contained Hatake Kakashi, the prodigy, Nohara Rin, the medic-nin, and Uchiha Obito, the black sheep of his clan. They were a bunch of mature children. They completed their missions with determination and pride. Minato," He chuckled again, "Minato would always say, 'Sometimes I think that they don't need me anymore. They have become strong on their own.' I found that completely true at the time. But, then the situation at Kannabi Bridge happened, then the Kyuubi attack." Sarutobi looked down and did a quick, silent prayer before looking back up, "Now, this new team 7. Haha, wooh. You, shinobi of Konoha, will have the time of your lives." Shikaku raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, I hope they aren't too troublesome." Sarutobi laughed.

"I can take a guess that you know who is on team 7?"

Shikaku nodded and rubbed his head, "Yeah, my son told me before he left for his mission. I am guessing that they are supposed to be back very soon."

"Yes," Sarutobi nodded, "that is correct."

Homaru scowled, "Who is on team 7?"

Sarutobi smirked, along with Shikaku, as he spoke, "Well, we have Hatake Kakashi, Nara Shikamaru and," He looked at Shikaku with mock confusion, "who was the last person?"

Shikaku leaned back in his chair, "Oh, I thought you remembered. Its Namikaze Minato, the Yellow Flash, who is on team 7." Sarutobi laughed at the advisors faces.

"Ah, yes. Now I remember. Such memories." Shikaku snorted.

* * *

"Here we are! The great village known as Konohagakure!"

"Shut up."

"Aww, I thought you loved me."

"I don't."

"That hurts," Points to his heart, "right here, dattebayo."

Someone snorted, "Well, a bit of Naruto just came to the surface." Minato laughed, Tazuna shook his head with a confused smile on his face.

Minato hummed with his arms crossed, "Wait, what if I say 'dattebane' like Kushina-chan instead of 'dattebayo'? I mean, they mean the same thing, just a different way to say it." Shikamaru lazily nodded.

"What ever floats your boat besides water."

"You are so peotic, Shika-chan!" Minato glomped Shikamaru, who gave him a lazy stare.

"Get off me, Naruto."

"You see Naruto? Where?" Minato chuckled as he looked around, as if he was searching for his young life form of being Uzumaki Naruto.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes and snorted, "Baka."

"Aww, that hurts Shika-kun."

"Don't call me that, _Minato-sensei_."

Minato pouted, "First its Kakashi, now you? Why are you torturing me?"

"Ne, Minato-sensei. Stop harassing the client, we are at Hokage-sama's office." Minato looked around, _Oh, when did we get here? _Then he gasped and pointed an accusing finger at Kakashi.

"But I wasn't harassing Tazuna-san!" Shikamaru chuckled.

"You sure are troublesome, Minato-sensei."

Tazuna piped up, "You people are mad."

"In a good way, or a bad way?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"In a funny way." Kakashi chuckled.

Tazuna groaned, "But I don't want to go among bad people."

"Oh," Minato said, "you cant help that. We're all mad here. Im mad. You're mad."

"How do you know Im mad?" Tazuna asked as they waited to be called in to Sarutobi's office.

Minato looked at him, "You must be." He said in total seriousness, "Or you wouldn't have come here."

And the door opened.

* * *

"Was that the Yondaime Hokage?"

"It looked like him!"

"I thought he was dead."

"He was, but how is he alive then?"

"I don't know,. Do you think he will become Hokage again?" Villagers and shinobi alike were gossiping about Minato as he walked through their area earlier as he was going to the Hokage Tower with Tazuna, Shikamaru and Kakashi.

"He only served as Hokage for about 3 years before he died."

"Yes, I know. Everyone knows."

"But, does he _know_?"

"Mhmm, most likely. I mean, he came back after all."

* * *

"Why, hello. You must be Tazuna." Sarutobi greeted the man with a bow, which Tazuna gladly returned.

"Its nice to meet you, Hokage-sama." Tazuna smiled at the man, he knew when to be a slouch and when not to be.

"Now, lets get down to business. Minato," Minato stood with his hands in his pockets, but his muscles were tense and ready for action, "go meet the other genin with your team, alright?"

Minato nodded, "Hai, Hokage-Jiji." Sarutobi chuckled. Minato leapt through the open window and landed on the ground below, using chakra to soften the landing, with his team following behind him. Sarutobi looked at Tazuna.

"Well, lets get started."

* * *

Hey guys, sorry for the line breaks. But uh, yeah. Here is Chapter Three, I didn't know what to put for the title though, its more like a filler chapter. So, follow, favourite and review please! I love seeing your comments!


	4. New Kind of Pain

**Chapter Four - New Kind of Pain.**

Minato was walking alone to meet the other teams at Ichiraku Ramen when he separated from his team. He wanted to see his favourite place first before meeting with the others. It was a very large Sakura tree that was always in full bloom, it was located on the top of the Hokage Monument, near the Yondaime's head. Minato sighed and flashed up to the tree, too lazy to walk up the monument, and sat on one of the bigger branches with his eyes closed. He began to meditate, that was what Minato used to do when he had nothing else to do when he was younger. He could hear the birds chirping in the trees, the slight breeze blowing through his hair. He can smell the food from Ichiraku Ramen, he can smell the wildlife behind him. But, what could he see? He could see a cage with a large animal in it.

**"Well, you finally came you insect. I thought I would see that idiotic blonde, Naruto, was it? But, now I see a face I don't want to see." **The voice was deep and throaty, obviously a male.

Minato sniffed the air around him with a confused look, "Whoo! Do I smell some bullshit in here?" Minato laughed as if his joke was funny. The big animal waved its 9 tails lazily, as if the jab didn't anger him.

**"Why are you here?" **Minato glared at him and leaned against one of the bars of the oversized cage.

"I thought it was obvious, Kyuubi." The animal, Kyuubi, laughed as his eyes roamed over Minato's form. Minato did the same to Kyuubi, taking in his impressive form.

Kyuubi was a little taller than the Hokage Monument. His body was slim and slender, his muscles toned as his body was made for speed and agility. His fur was a red colour, almost ruby red but bordering on auburn. His fur was white on his top lip, right under his nose, and on the knuckles, and toes, of his front paws along with the tips of his fluffy tails. His fur was also silky and smooth, it was very soft, too. His ears were a little smaller than the night of his attack, they were more shaped into a soft triangle, with rounded edges basically. His eyes were a blaring red with gold seeping in the edges with his pupil as a black slit. His teeth were white and sharp, two large fangs poked out of his mouth. They were 10 inches long as they curved slightly towards his slim chest. He had large paws, unlike his humanoid shape during his attack on Konoha, with black retractable claws. From his wrist joint to his elbow joint, on his front legs, they were wrapped in black bandages, and from his wrist joint to his heel joint, on his back legs, they had black string that criss-crossed, separately, multiple times. Around his neck was a pair of dog tags, the first one said, 'Kyuubi no Kitsune' and the second one said, 'Kurama'.

Kyuubi narrowed his eyes, **"Pest, read the dog tags. You will understand that even us Bijuu have names, Kyuubi is just a title just as Ichibi, Nibi, Sanbi, and so on." **Minato frowned with a thoughtful look on his face.

"Why are you telling me this," He looked at the dog tags, "Kurama?" Kyuubi, now classified as Kurama, grinned as he heard his name.

**"Because, you are a smart mortal, along with that shadow user. Besides, you entertain me."**

Minato nodded slowly, "Okay, but why do you look like this?"

**"I can choose whatever form I like. I could be a mortal like you, or I can become a humanoid fox. I don't like either of those choses to be honest, so I chose to be more animal-like." **Minato nodded again.

"Now that, that is out of the way. I came to ask you about the seal." Kurama flicked his ear.

**"The seal is not damaged, child." **Minato scowled at the 'child' part, but Kurama didn't care so he continued, **"It was merely changed to fit your body."**

"Kurama, it was not changed to fit my body. It is physically hurting me at random intervals of the day." Kurama laid down and set his head on his paws, looking like a kicked puppy. But Minato was right. The seal gives him unbearable pain starting from his abdomen and it works its way throughout his body.

**"It could have mutated in a way, a possible side effect."**

Minato's eyes narrowed as he hopped onto the beast's nose, "How could this be a possible side effect if its hurting me? The _side effects _have just started about a week ago! I have tried my best to not let anyone notice!" Kurama's eyes crossed as he looked at Minato.

**"Do you know about that one disease that civilians seem to get?" **

Minato sat down on Kurama's nose with a cocked eyebrow, "Which one?"

**"Where they get all sickly and they eventually get de-haired on their noggins."**

"De-haired?"

Kurama snorted, **"If you don't like my new word, leave. Its my word, so leave it alone." **Minato gave him a strange look but let it go.

"So, you mean Cancer?"

Kurama nodded, **"Yes, the seal has mutated in that way. You know a bit about that one subject, biology?" **Minato nodded, **"Well, you understand how cells work, correct?" **

Minato shook his head, "Not really." Kurama sighed.

**"Well, you're in luck. You get to have a biology lesson from a Bijuu!" **Minato grinned, eager to learn. **"Anyways, lets start off with proteins. Proteins are made up of amino acids, you know what those are right?" **Minato nodded, **"Okay, proteins are responsible for all the functions in living organisms. There are 3 stages to proteins; Primary, Secondary and Tertiary structure, which is third-dimensional. Denatured proteins is when proteins lose their normal shape and don't function. This usually happens when there is a change in temperature or a change in pH. The conditions inside the body have to be favorable in order for proteins to work properly. When conditions are unfavorable, proteins change shape when they don't work and they become denatured. With me so far?"**

Minato nodded, "Question. What is pH?"

**"Well, pH is a measure of the acidity or basicity of an aqueous solution. Solutions with a pH less than 7 are said to be acidic and solutions with a pH greater than 7 are basic or alkaline. Pure water has a pH very close to 7. Got it?"**

"Yup."

**"Okay. Enzymes speed up chemical reactions within cells and organisms. Catalysts speed up chemical reactions with-"**

"Wait, you said that Enzymes speed up chemical reactions."

Kurama growled at him, **"If you would've let me finish, I could have finished my sentence! Catalysts speed up chemical reactions within the _body._"**

"Oh."

**"Yeah, _oh._"**

"Well, continue.

**"Whatever. Anyways, the shape of the enzyme has to be perfect in order for the enzyme to work properly. And that is all I know about proteins, but there is a whole bunch more information about it. I actually don't really care though, I told you what I told you about proteins. Now lets move on."**

Minato sighed and laid on his back, "But, what does this have to do with the seal?"

Kurama growled softly, **"Give me a minute to explain it to you! Anyways, f****or normal cells, they have a large cytoplasm, a single nucleus, a single nucleolus and a fine chromatin. I am not gonna talk about the other things, I don't know much about those. Anyways, for a Cancer cell it is vaguely different. It has a small cytoplasm, multiple nuclei, multiple and large nucleoli and a coarse chromatin. You understand that?"**

"Yeah, but what doe-"

**"Im about to tell you. Cancer is basically created by an out of control cell reproduction, it can produce a mass of cells, which is Cancer. Now there are different types of Cancer, right? There is a Benign Tumor, which is an abnormal mass of normal cells. Malignant Tumor, a mass of cells that result from the reproduction of cancer cells. Then you have Cancer, which is the disease caused by severe disruption of the cell cycle. And finally, you have Metastasis, which is the spreading of cancer cells. Those are the ones that I know of, there are many more that I don't know about."**

Minato closed his eyes, "So, how does this relate to the seal?"

**"You can figure it out on your own, insect." **Kurama closed his eyes, **"Now, begone. I have some other changes to, _accomadate_ for your body."**

"Fine. See you later, Kurama." Minato's figure vanished into thin air as he exited his mindscape.

* * *

Minato sat uncomfortably next Ino and Sakura, who were fawning over him _and _Sasuke. Minato wasn't really paying attention to what the others were saying, though, he kept an ear open if he heard his name. But, he was actually thinking about what Kurama said to him, and the info., he gave. _How does the seal relate to Cancer? Is it how- Oh wait! _Minato's eyes widened a fraction but fortunately, it was unnoticeable.

"Minato-kun! Minato-kun, are you listening?" Minato shook his head and shut his eyes as if to wake himself up.

Minato chuckled awkwardly as he rubbed the back of his head, "Eheheh, gomen. I wasn't really paying attention. I have a lot on my mind tonight." Shikamaru gave him a suspicious look.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Minato looked at Shikamaru and realized the meaning of his words, _Whats wrong?_

Minato sighed, "Nothing really, but I would like to leave. I also need to show you something." _Come with me, I need your help._

"Oh really? Hopefully it isn't too troublesome." _Is it something bad? _Shikamaru stood up, as did Minato.

"Well, it kinda is troublesome. That is why I need your help with it." _Yes, that is why I need your help. _Asuma and Kakashi glanced between the 2, Minato caught their glance and made an unnoticeable motion for them to come with him and Shikamaru.

Kakashi stood up and feigned a yawn, as did Asuma. "I guess we should hit the hay since we've got some stuff to do tomorrow." Asuma nodded and followed Minato, Shikamaru and Kakashi out of the ramen shop. Kurenai, Gai and the genin watched as they left.

Ino spoke up, "Hey, where is Naruto-baka? How come he isn't here?" Kurenai and Gai stiffened up.

"He is currently on a long term C-Ranked mission to watch Hokage-sama's grandson, Konohamaru."

Sakura scowled, "How come he gets to do a solo C-Rank and the rest of us get stuck doing D-Ranks?"

"That baka probably bribed his way to get a C-Rank from Hokage-sama." Kiba said and fed a piece of BBQ to his little puppy companion, Akamaru.

Kurenai reached pver the table and smacked Kiba in the back of his head, "Gaki! You should know that Hokage-sama and Naruto-kun are very close, almost like family."

Kiba rubbed the back of his head and felt a bump forming, "Is that why he calls Hokage-sama, Jiji?" Kurenai nodded along with Gai, who was being uncharacteristically quiet.

Neji noticed this, "Gai-sensei, are you okay?" Gai nodded.

"Kakashi and I made a bet about who could stay normal the longest!" Gai exclaimed, but not as loud as he used to be, then he frowned, "But, I have to wear normal shinobi clothing then! No~!" He cried, simple as that.

* * *

Minato, Shikamaru, Asuma and Kakashi all sat in Minato's little apartment. His apartment was still crowded with open boxes and a majority were closed.

Shikamaru looked at Minato, "So, is there something wrong with the seal?" Minato nodded.

"Yes. I have spoken with the Kyuubi, whose name is Kurama, and he has told me some information. But, not what is exactly wrong with the seal."

"Well," Asuma began, "what is happening to you right now? I have noticed small glimpses of you acting like you were in pain." Kakashi nodded in agreement.

Minato sighed, "The seal, since it has changed, has been giving me physical pain for the past week. But, with the information I got from Kurama, I can deduce how the seal is acting the way it is to my body."

Kakashi closed his eye, "How is the seal reacting to your body?"

"Its acting like Cancer." Minato frowned. _Cancer is caused by an abnormal amount of cell reproduction. For the seal, it was originally supposed to take Kurama's chakra and slowly mix it with my own, so it would become mine completely. But, now with the new seal fragment, its messing it up somehow. Hmm, maybe with the new seal fragment in place, its speeding up the process just like cell reproduction in Cancer. _

**_Bingo._**

Minato flinched at the sudden voice, but it was unnoticeable. _Can you fix it?_

Kurama snorted, _**Most likely, it will hurt though. You will get like, a shocking kind of pain.**_Minato frowned at the thought before nodding. He got up and shooed everyone out of his house shouting something along the lines of 'Fixing his problems.' After that, he went to lay on his bed when Kurama stopped him. _**Don't lay down, you will be squirming a bit and it will hurt even more. Sit down, and strip down to your boxers. You don't want anything to get in the way of the seal. Once I fix it, it will look exactly as it did before the incident with Mizuki.**_Minato nodded and stripped, he also unwrapped the bandages from his torso and threw them away. He sat on in the middle of his floor, after he made some room, and waited for the pain to come. He could feel Kurama's chakra racing through his chakra coils and his veins, going straight towards the seal.

That's when the pain hit.

He screamed in agony like their was no tomorrow, he was glad that he put up silencing seals when Asuma, Kakashi and Shikamaru came. If they saw him, they would probably think that he got poisoned or something. He screamed and screamed until his voice died out, tears streamed down his face from the burning pain. Kurama said it would be like a shock! Not like he was getting deep fried or something! The pain was unbearable. It was like steaming hot water was going throughout his body. Then, it started to feel like he was getting burned by a **Kaiton **jutsu and a **Raiton **jutsu at the same time! He squirmed and writhed on the floor, but never on his stomach. He tried to move as little as possible, but it still hurt. The pain was still going, even when everything went black. He had one last thought before he went unconscious.

_This is a new kind of pain._

* * *

So, how do you guys like that? I tried my best to describe what was going on with his seal and stuff, also with the pain he was experiencing but I don't think I have it as detailed as I want it. So, yeah. Follow, favourite and review please! And don't be afraid to ask questions. Anyways, until next time!


	5. Bingo Book

**So, before I start Chapter Five. I got some really good comments, especially from Tsukiyo69, and I wanted to answer some of his/her|Idk if you are a dude, or a chick| so yeah.**

**Tsukiyo69 ~ When they were at the restaurant with all the genins, did Minato have his Yondaime's appearance? If yes, what were the Genin's reactions? **

**~ Well, to answer your question. Minato was in his civilian clothing, I was actually going to describe Minato's civilian appearance in this chapter... So, yeah. I guess for their reaction, they didn't really know him. His name wasn't commonly known when he was the Yondaime Hokage. It was always the Yellow Flash, Kiroii Senko, or the Yondaime Hokage, Fourth Hokage. Plus, they weren't even old enough to know Minato's actual name. So, their reactions would be slightly surprised at his sudden appearance, and maybe some suspicion from Shino and Sasuke since they are more of the slightly smarter than normal genins in my story. There also might be some suspicion form Kiba because of his sense of smell, he could probably still smell fox on Minato since he has always smelled fox on Naruto. **

**Anyways, onto Chapter Five!**

* * *

**Chapter Five ~ Bingo Book.**

"Well then, this is a problem." Minato said from his place on the ground. He was bleeding from multiple places. A blade was at his neck, he couldn't move since he was still weak from Kurama fixing the seal and healing him. He was sent on a mission the minute he woke up.

_~ Flashback ~_

"Minato-sensei," Minato looked up from the book he was reading, _The Tale of A Gutsy Ninja_, to see Kakashi crouched on the window-sill, "Hokage-sama requests your presence." Minato sighed, closed his book and put it in his hip pouch that was laid out on the table next to his bed. He hopped off the hospital bed and got dressed quickly. Kakashi grabbed his shoulder and shunshinned both of them to the Sandaime's office.

Sarutobi look up from his paperwork, "Ah, hello Minato-kun. I know that you just came from the hospital, but you are needed for a mission. Team 10 consisting of Akimichi Choji, Yamanaka Ino and Hyuga Hinata, went on a joint mission with Team 8 consisting of Inuzuka Kiba, his partner Akamaru, Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura. Your previous mission and their mission are linked. The man you escorted, Tazuna, was escorted back to the Land of Waves. They were attacked by 2 chunin-level missing-nin and one of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist."

Minato cocked an eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest, "Which one?"

"Momochi Zabuza."

"Oh," Minato said, "I see. But, the genin have Asuma and Kurenai so they should be fine, right?" Sarutobi shook his head.

"No, it seems that, that tyrant Gatou is smarter than we thought. When Zabuza attacked them, Asuma and Kurenai were both severely injured. It was Hyuga Hinata who sent a messenger bird stating for help." Sarutobi chuckled, "I didn't know whether she would do it or not, she is just too shy for her own good."

Kakashi spoke up, "So, you want Team 7 to go as reinforcements and to fight Zabuza and his friend on the bridge?"

"Yes," Sarutobi puffed on his pipe, "also because Jiraiya only wants team 7 to go."

Minato rubbed his face, "And why does Ero-Sennin want us to go?"

"His spies have gotten information that Orochimaru wants Uchiha Sasuke,"

Kakashi's eye widened, "For his Sharingan." Sarutobi nodded.

"B-But wait!" Minato stuttered and waved his hands in front of him, "Sasuke-teme didn't activate his Sharingan, though!"

"Actually, he did when Zabuza showed up and blasted his KI against the genin." Minato hung his head.

"Dammit. Ugh," Minato groaned, "okay. Whatever, I'm leaving now." Minato turned to Kakashi, "Go get Shikamaru, you and him are going to catch up to me later. Got it?" Kakashi nodded, "Go." And the White Fang's son left.

Sarutobi watched Minato as he signed some papers, "Minato," The blonde hummed, "be careful."

"I always am."

_~ Flashback End ~_

Minato chuckled nervously, "Can you, uh, please remove your very," Minato poked the tip of the blade, a drop of blood dripped from his finger, "_very_, sharp blade from my neck please? I would like it if I came back home in one piece." The man holding the blade chuckled.

"But, why should I?"

Minato coughed, "Uhm, because I am not on your agenda, Zabuza-san." The man, Zabuza, laughed at the honorific. The genin, except for Shikamaru and the Jounin, jumped at the laugh.

Zabuza spoke, "My tool, Haku, was killed by Kakashi. The Demon Brothers were caught and injured by Sarutobi Asuma and his _girlfriend_ Yuhi Kurenai. Now, I have the Yellow Flash at my blade's tip." He laughed, "I thought you were supposed to be legendary? The fastest man, other than the Raikage, in the Elemental Nations? S-Ranked in the Bingo Book with a flee on sight order? I mean, you were even a Kage!" Zabuza exclaimed with a glint in his eyes.

Minato winced at the information, knowing that he was out of his prime time. But, he has a good excuse. I mean, he was his son, Naruto, and he still has yet to go over his notes on Fuinjutsu and work on his skills properly.

The genin and Jounin couldn't do anything. Zabuza could kill Minato with one flick of his wrist because of his large blade at Minato's throat. Hinata, Sakura and Ino were silently crying. Shikamaru, Kiba, and Choji were trying not to cry and Sasuke's face was just expressionless, like he didn't care. Kurenai was on the ground, panting with Asuma next to her. Kakashi was leaning against a tree, holding his arm to his side.

Minato closed his eyes, he couldn't do anything. His chakra reserves were dangerously low, multiple wounds littered his body, hampering his movements. He wasn't prepared for this. He thought that he could just help the genin then help them finish their mission, but it seems that, that wasn't the way to go.

Shikamaru looked at his sensei laying on the ground awaiting his death by Zabuza. He shook his head, that wasn't Minato-sensei. That wasn't Naruto. They don't give up. Naruto would find a way to keep going to protect his precious people. Minato would find a way to get out of sticky situations with determination showing in his eyes. Shikamaru squeezed his eyes shut and put his hands together forming a circle as he kneeled down on one knee. Asuma and Kurenai glanced at him with understanding, the genin looked at him with confused expressions.

_Minato-sensei looking at death straight in the eye. This is too troublesome for me to deal with. _Shikamaru sighed quietly to himself, but he kept thinking for a way to save Minato. _Ah, I have an idea. Hopefully Minato-sensei will get the memo. _Shikamaru stood up and stealthily walked behind Zabuza. Zabuza saw this but ignored him, thinking that he was just trying to get away. But, he was wrong. Shikamaru went down on one knee and put his hand in the **Rat** handseal. He looked up at the sky before he channeled his chakra, his shadow extended away from his body and connected with Zabuza's, halting his movements.

Zabuza felt his chakra fluctuate, he caught sight of Shikamaru from the corner of his eye. He spoke, his voice gruff, "Kid, y'know that I could easily break out of this, right?"

Shikamaru nodded, "Yeah, but this isn't my **Kagemane no Jutsu**. This is my **Kushibari no Jutsu**." His shadow crept up and wound around Zabuza's body, "This jutsu can physically damage you," As he was saying this, his shadow took the form of a hand and curled around Zabuza's throat, as if he was getting strangled. "it can physically stop your movements, but it varies on the person doing the jutsu." Shikamaru ignored the KI coming form Zabuza, "It also varies on how much light is left in the sky for me to make shadows." Zabuza struggled against the shadow. Shikamaru started to sweat, trying to keep his jutsu working against Zabuza's struggle.

Minato opened his eyes when he didn't feel any pain. He glanced around and saw Shikamaru keeping Zabuza from killing him by using his shadows. He looked at Shikamaru and caught his glance, he nodded to him. Shikamaru nodded back with a smirk. Minato put his weight on his hands and pushed off of the ground, kicking Zabuza in the chest. Zabuza grunted and aimed to end Minato's life, but Shikamaru tightened his hold on his neck. Zabuza struggled against Shikamaru's grip, the shadow hand slowly slipped from Zabuza's neck. Minato noticed this and grabbed a tri-pronged kunai from his S|KH, he held it in a reverse grip and planned to swipe it through Zabuza's neck, when they were interrupted by a clap.

Zabuza strained his neck to see who was clapping, he growled, "Gatou, what are you doing here?"

"The Demon of the Mist, about to get strangled by a Nara and almost killed by the Yellow Flash, I was worried about you." Gatou sneered sarcastically. Gatou was a small man, a little bit taller than Sasuke actually. He wore a brown business suit, along with dark circular glasses like Konohamaru's sensei, Ebisu. His right arm was in a cast, his left hand held a waist-high cane to help him walk.

Minato looked at Gatou, _How does he know about us? Most civilians don't. _He decided to voice his thoughts, "How do you know about us?"

Gatou smirked, taking a black book with red tags hanging on the pages out of his pocket, "The Bingo Book has been updated recently." Minato glared at him with cold, icy blue eyes.

"Oh, really?" Minato asked, keeping his guard up. He glanced at Zabuza through the corner of his eye, he gave him a nod which Zabuza returned. Zabuza was basically agreeing with Minato to work together and stuff, so yeah. Anyways, Minatogave a swift handsign to Shikamaru to tell him to stand down, which Shikamaru obeyed with slight hesitation.

"Mhmm," Gatou hummed, "would you like me to read off the recent entries of Konhagakure no Sato?"

Minato nodded, "Yes, that would be great."

Gatou chuckled, "Too damn bad, get your own copy." Minato smiled at him and narrowed his eyes.

"Yeah, its a good thing I found one already." Minato stared at the book in Gatou's hand. _It should be easy to get that Bingo Book from him. I need to see the new entries, just to be sure._

* * *

So, what do you guys think of this chapter? I know hat it has taken me a long time to update, but I had practice every single day of spring break, so yeah. Follow, favourite and review please!


	6. Slippery Snake

**Chapter Six ~ Slippery Snake.**

Minato and Zabuza ran towards Gatou with angry expressions. Minato usually didn't get angry, but Gatou just sickened him. Minato growled to himself as he raced towards Gatou's mercenaries. _I need to stay on guard, just in case. You never know what goes on in a tyrant's mind._

"Kill them!" Gatou shouted, skirting back behind the mercenaries.

"They can try." Zabuza joked with Minato, who grinned in response. They cant kill them, they were just lowly mercenaries without any real training involved. The Jounin, genin, Zabuza and Minato have been trained since they were 6 to be assassins, killers, whatever you want to call them.

Minato shook his head and upped his speed, _Stay focused._ He met the first mercenary, he kicked him in the face and slashed at his neck with his kunai, killing him. He pivoted on his foot swiftly ducking under a sloppy punch aimed for his face, he retorted with a quick punch to the mercanaries neck. The mercenary bugged his eyes and dropped his weapon while reaching to cradle his injured throat. Minato punched him in the face, breaking his nose with a loud crack. A roundhouse kick to the face that was enforced with chakra, it snapped his neck and he fell to the ground, dead.

Zabuza glanced at Minato and chuckled, _That man is a trooper. _He rested his Executioner Blade against his shoulder as he walked forward with a glare. He walked towards his victim, Gatou.

Gatou, scared out of his mind, fell onto his butt and started to scoot back using his hands and feet, "Please, don't kill me. I can give you anything you want! Just please, don't kill me." He cried with fear.

Zabuza laughed at him and eyed the black book that was in Gatou's hand, "Give me that book, then you can leave." Gatou nodded, throwing him the book. He scrambled to his feet and ran away, until he got forced to his knees by Minato, who appeared behind the short man.

Gatou looked back at Zabuza, "You said I could leave!" Zabuza chuckled as Minato gave Gatou an icy glare.

"Yeah, but he didn't."

Gatou's scream got cut short by a sickening squelch of a kunai getting forced into his temple, instantly killing him.

* * *

"Hey, thanks for getting that." Minato thanked Zabuza as he retrieved the book from his outstretched hand.

Zabuza nodded, "No problem, Gatou was like an itch that never went away. Thanks for gettin' rid of him." Minato chuckled.

"Its no big deal, just doin' the world a favor." Zabuza laughed and turned around, hefting his large blade across his shoulders.

"Make sure you stay alive, blondie. I wanna rematch sometime without any interuptions." Zabuza raised a hand as a goodbye and walked away into the surrounding trees. His figure eventually faded out of sight. Minato turned and looked at everyone, the genins and the jounins.

"Well, lets get going." Minato chuckled at them and ran ahead, leaving them to catch up.

* * *

"Sensei!"

"What?"

"Can we stop?"

"Wha-Why?"

"Cause I'm tired~"

"So."

Minato and Shikamaru started to argue as they ran next to each other, Shikamaru was going at the same pace as Minato, surprisingly. But, it was understandable that Shikamaru would complain, they have been running non-stop since they left Wave. It was also kind of hard to keep track of 7 genin and 3 injured Jounin. Minato, shaking his head, decided to give them a rest.

"Okay guys, lets take a stop for a bit. Then," He looked up at the sky, noting how it was starting to get dark, "lets set up camp." He looked at the genin, particularly Hinata, Shikamaru and Sakura, "You three, are going to find lots of firewood, got it?" Hinata nodded timidly, Shikamaru groaned and Sakura harped at him for being lazy.

"You lazy ass, Minato-kun said we had to get some wood! So get up off your behind and help!" Sakura growled, holding up a fist as if she was going to knock the daylights out of Shikamaru.

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes at Sakura, _Minato-kun? Does she have a crush on Na-Minato-sensei? _He shook his head, _Minato is not Naruto, not anymore. _Minato decided to intervene at that time.

He motioned for Sakura to calm down, "Sakura-san, calm down. Anger is not good for a shinobi out in the wild. It plays with our heads when we are in battle." Sakura looked at him with wide eyes and a red face. Hinata also blushed, but not as much.

"Ano, Minato-san-" Hinata started, but she got cut off by Minato.

He chuckled, "Ne, you don't need to call me Minato-san. Just Minato or Minato-sensei is fine." Hinata nodded, blushing and pushing her fore fingers together nervously.

"Uhm, M-Minato-sensei?" He nodded with a smile, "W-We don't h-have, uhm, that m-many te-ents." She stuttered, she looked down and frowned at herself. _I cant even talk to Minato-sensei without stuttering! He must think I am pathetic._

"Well," He put his hands on his hips, "then I guess that we all have to share. Or, we sleep outside, with no tents." Hinata blushed and nodded, walking away with Sakura and Shikamaru. Minato scratched the back of his head, he looked at everyone else to see who was left. Kiba, Choji, Ino, Asuma, Kakashi and Kurenai were left and spread out between the camp sight.

Minato sighed, there was nothing to do. _Well, _he thought, _there is one thing. _He leapt into a tree and followed the chakra of the three Genin's he ordered to get some wood. He caught up to them quickly and masked his chakra. Hiding behind the foliage of the leaves, he spied on Hinata, Shikamaru and Sakura.

* * *

Shikamaru, yawning, he asked, "Cant we find wood now?" He looked at a couple fallen branches that were underneath a tree, "See, there are tree branches right there. Lets just take em' and leave." Sakura swerved around and aimed a punch at his head, which he dodged. That seemed to infuriate Sakura even more.

"Baka! The branches have to be perfect for Minato-kun~!" Hinata and Shikamaru narrowed their eyes at the cherry blossom.

Hinata tried to keep her voice steady as she glared at Sakura, "It is not M-Minato-kun, Sakura-san-n. It is Minato-se-ensei, or Minato-taichou sin-nce he is older than us with a s-stronger authority than Kakash-hi-sensei, Kurenai-sensei an-nd Asuma-sensei."

"Minato-kun is so sweet, hot and cool." Sakura continued to babble on as if she didn't hear Hinata.

Shikamaru sighed softly to himself, _Hinata obviously still has her crush on Naruto. But, now that Naruto is Minato-sensei, she has a crush on him instead. Is this making any sense? _Shikamaru shook his head and closed his eyes, enjoying the slight breeze of the wind as the sun shined through the trees.

Sakura continued to talk about her fantasy about her _Minato-kun _with Hinata glaring at her the whole time. Hinata didn't like Sakura because the pink-haired girl always worries about things that are not shinobi-related like her hair, or her makeup and her clothes. It annoyed her to no end about how she goes on and on about how under-developed she is, or how Ino is going to be a pig forever. _Sakura has no respect for authoritive figures, if she thinks they are cute they are automatically deemed -kun or something close to that. _Hinata fumed, but them she blinked. This was not like her, to get all defensive about Minato-sensei.

* * *

The three genin and the blonde Kage wree all unaware of a slimey snake-like man hiding in the shadows with a greedy smirk on his face. He has masked his chakra well, making sure no one knew he was there. He discreetly took out a senbon with blue gooey stuff on the tip, he threw it towards the Hyuga heir and left quickly as she fell to the ground, unconscious.

He grinned as he fled, one thought going through his head. _Lets see how this new experiment works out._

* * *

**Hey guys, sorry its so short but here is Chapter Six! Hope you like it and that everyone has a fantastic Easter! So please, follow, favourite and review. I love your reviews, but so far I have only gotten one for the last chapter. Continue to read Crystal Stairs, thank you.**


	7. Strange Happenings

**Chapter Seven ~ Strange Happenings.**

"Hinata!" Minato blurred from his spot to the pale Hyuuga who was on the ground. Minato put his finger to his ear, pushing on a button with made a crackled-like sound, he spoke, "Kakashi, you there?"

"Yo, whats up, Minato-sensei." Minato glanced at Shikamaru and Hinata.

"Hinata has collapsed by an unknown source," He focused on the pale heiress, "she seems to have a fever, her chakra is fluctuating dangerously. She seems to be having a chakra fever with something else involved."

The radio crackled, "Kurenai here, I have a little bit of knowledge in Healing, bring her to me. Make sure you get here quickly." Minato nodded, even though she couldn't see him.

"Can I use Hiraishin?" There was a moment of silence before the radio crackled to life.

"Yes."

Minato sighed and picked up Hinata bridle-style, he turned to Shikamaru and Sakura, "You two, stay here and look for some firewood while I take Hinata-chan to Kurenai-san. I will come for you two later, I have already put a Hiraishin seal on you guys." Shikamaru, being the one who recovered first, nodded and grabbed Sakura's arm, dragging her deeper into the forest. Minato watched them leave and adjusted Hinata in his arms, he put his hand to his radio, "Alright, prepare to grab Hinata as quickly as you can. It takes me a bit more chakra than usual to carry others with me."

"Got it."

* * *

"Grab her, set her down gently."

"Minato-sensei, you okay?"

"I'll be alright, forcus on Hinata-chan first."

"Hai."

Kurenai and Kakashi set to work as Asuma helps Minato stand up, he seemed to be a bit winded when he used Hiraishin with Hinata. Asuma seemed to notice this, "Are you sure you're okay, Minato-san?"

Minato nodded, breathing heavily he answered, "I am not," He coughed, trying to breath slowly, "used to having an extra person with me when I use," He coughed once more, "the Hiraishin." Asuma nodded, still giving him a worried look. Minato leaned his back against a tree, breathing slowly, his eyes half-lidded.

_Something happened to Hinata-chan. It affected me when I used the Hiraishin. Why? What happened to her? She couldn't have fainted out of nowhere for no reason, something must've happened so quickly that no one saw. _Minato made a handseal, creating a shadow clone he sent it off to find Shikamaru and Sakura. Minato closed his eyes, feeling tired and hot. He opened his eyes slowly, took off his haori and made a make-shift pillow with it and laid his head on it. Closing his eyes again, he evened out his breathing and fell asleep.

* * *

Hinata was confused, where was she? She remembered being with Shikamaru and Sakura, they were getting firewood for the campsite. Then, the rest was blank. She turned around, all she saw was darkness. She sighed, _I probably fainted again in front of Shikamaru-kun and Sakura-san. _

"Hinata~." Hinata jumped, startled at the sudden voice. She glanced to the left, noticing a figure in the darkness.

She cocked her head to the side, "W-Who are y-you?" She stuttered, holding her hands in front of her.

"Awh, don't you recognize me, Hinata-chan." Hinata watched as the figure came closer, she gasped. It was Minato, but he was different. He looked pale, and sick. With dark bags under his dull and tired eyes, he had 3 bloody whisker-like marks etched into his face on both cheeks, reminding her of a certain blonde.

"N-Naruto-kun?"

Minato shook his head, "Nope, its me, Hinata-chan. Its me, Minato. Don't you recognize me?" Hinata squeaked, putting her hands to her mouth.

"G-Gomen, Minato-sensei. Y-You remind m-me of N-Naruto-kun." He chuckled, but it was empty.

"That might be because I _was _Naruto."

Hinata grew confused, "I-I don't q-quite und-derstand what y-you mean, M-Minato-sensei."

"No one will understand, even if I told them what happened." He looked down, "Hinata, I need you to wake up. I need you to help me."

She was shocked, help him? How? Why? She voiced her thoughts, "But, how! Why?"

"Because, if you don't wake up, you will eventually die. Orochimaru injected you with a strange serum that seems to be changing your body to that of an adult like me. I don't know why he did it, and I don't know what will happen. I don't know if it will change your hair colour, your eye colour, anything. He might've mixed someones DNA with yours so you could look like them." Hinata nodded, albeit still confused. She also noticed that she stopped stuttering all of a sudden, she got scared but put on a brave face. _This could be one of the changes that he was talking about._

"Ano, why do I need to help you?"

Minato rubbed the back of his head, "Well, I used Hiraishin while I was carrying you without knowing the side affects of having you with me. Apparently, something happened to me because of what happened to you by Orochimaru."

Hinata shivered when he mentioned Orochimaru's name, she looked down before glancing back up at Minato. "Uhm, why do you look like Naruto-kun?"

Minato looked confused, "I don't look like Naruto, I remind people of him but I don't look like him. Do I?" Hinata looked inside of her hip pouch, producing a small mirror she rarely uses, she handed to him. He looked at his reflection and gasped, he looked all sickly and his face was bleeding with his signature whisker marks scarred into his face.

He handed the mirror back to her, "Maybe this is what I will look like in the future? I don't know, but I do know that it has something to do with that slippery snake." He huffed and started to disappear, his little chat he had with Hinata was done.

"Where are you going!"

He rubbed the back of his neck, "Im going back to my mindscape, that is where we are now. We are in yours, though. Im going back to mine, my time here is up."

"B-But, don't go!" She shouted desperately, she finally had someone who accepted her and now he was leaving.

He smiled softly, "Hinata-chan, I'll see you when you wake up. I promise."

Hinata nodded shyly, "O-Okay." She jumped when she felt a hand pat her on the head, she looked up and saw Minato giving her a soft smile. He turned his back and walked away, with each step he began to disappear and Hinata watched him until he was gone.

* * *

**Hey guys, sorry that my chapters are so short. I just haven't had the time lately to update, I might be getting a job soon too, so that will take even more of my time away. Anyways, school is almost over! Yay! I already got my classes ready for Sophmore year, so happy. Well, please follow, favourite and review! Seeing your guys reviews makes me smile and it gets me motivated to write some more.**


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